My Valentine
by SarahRoseDL
Summary: AU/AH: A countdown to Valentine's Day for the group of our favorite characters. Fluff. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

**Bella's POV**

"This is ridiculous." Rose said, slamming her gray tray of food down on the lunch table. Green Soup Surprise went everywhere.

"Rose!" I growled picking up my already ratty book, Wuthering Heights, from the green meaty liquid covered table.

"Bella, I can't believe this. I have to work on Valentine's Day."

Rosalie Hale never had trouble getting a date for Valentine's Day. She had her share of dates, but most of the time the guy ended up being a jerk or 'below her standards' and she would just walk out. However, Rosalie was a true believer in love and Valentine's Day which meant that she would be on a date because… wouldn't it be a cute story to tell the grandchildren that you're first date with your future spouse was on Valentine's Day?

Jasper sat down next to me, pulling his iPod earphones out of his ears and stuffing them in his pocket. He was brown bagging it with me today.

"Bella, I need your help." Rose stated.

"I need green slime to get off my book." I said holding up my book.

"I'll buy you a new book."

"Rosalie." Jasper said, in his warning voice. She instantly stopped. Jasper had a weird effect on people.

He and Rosalie both knew that my mother had given me this book before she passed away. Inside she wrote me a lengthy message. I cherished this book with my whole heart.

"Jake also works at the garage." Rosalie told me.

"So… you want to date Jake?" I asked.

"Funny." Rosalie said flatly. "No, I want him to take my shift. It's from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon."

"I thought you went out at night for Valentine's Day?" I asked.

"I need to get ready." Rosalie explained.

"And why don't you ask Jake?" I asked.

"I tried and he doesn't like me because I'm not you."

"He doesn't like me." I said.

"How do you not feel the intensity of his feelings?" Jasper asked.

"Jazz, you're not helping me." I said.

"Just being honest."

"Well, be quiet." I said.

"Come on, Bella." Rosalie whined. She usually got her way.

"I could try," I began, "if you don't force me to go out."

"You want to be alone for Valentine's Day?"

"Yes." I said.

She sighed, "Fine. If he agrees then I won't force you out."

"Thank you." I said.

"When's Valentine's Day?" Jasper asked and was then met by the incredulous eyes of Rosalie.

"The fourteenth of February. The second Saturday, idiot."

I laughed and nudged Jasper subtly. He smiled. We liked to annoy Rosalie.

"Hey, Jasper, do you have plans?" I asked him.

"Why, no, Bella I do not."

"Would you like to have the Lord of the Rings marathon we've been promising to do for months?"

"I would love to." Jasper smiled.

"You two are insane." Rosalie said standing up. "I'm going to get something edible to eat."

She walked away and Jasper and I began to laugh. Jasper was just as quiet as me sometimes and a nice person to hang out with. Rose and he were my two best friends. Jasper was the one that I could talk to about losing my mom and feel like he understood. He hadn't lost his parents, but he understood somehow. Rosalie tried and she was great, but she didn't completely get what I felt.

"Were you being serious about the marathon?" Jasper asked.

"Only if you want to." I said. "I'm as free as a bird."

"Then marathon it is." He said pulling the contents of his lunch out.

We ate in peaceful silence until Rosalie came back complaining about how Mike Newton tried to grope her. Jasper looked pissed, but Rosalie shook it off. The bell rang and I began walking to History class with Jasper. He was a total Civil War freak. It was great to see him defend the confederacy's great generals. It made one of my classes entertaining. Of course, there was also the fact that a gorgeous guy with copper hair sat directly in front of Jasper. I didn't even know his name. Our school was huge. Our class alone was made up of 1,000 kids. This was an honors class, though, so it didn't have more than 20 people.

I was staring at the gorgeous guy when Jasper threw a piece of paper at my head. I gave him the stink eye and he laughed. "Day dreaming?"

"Somewhat." I muttered picking up the piece of paper and placing it back on Jasper's desk.

Mr. Emerson began his lesson then and I took notes until my hand began to cramp up. This teacher liked to stuff our heads with information the first day of the lesson and for the next day discuss it. The bell rang and I gathered up all of my books and began walking next to Jasper out of the classroom. When I walked out, though, I was rammed into by some quarter back looking man. He was smiling and his dimples were showing.

I'm already a klutz and having something else throw off my balance was just not good. My hands went up in the air while I fell to the ground. My books created a rainfall effect and began falling on top of my head.

"Bella, are you okay?" Jasper said crouching down next to me, not even worried about my books. The corners of his mouth were twitching like he wanted to laugh, but he refrained.

"I'll be fine." I muttered.

"Fuck. I'm sorry!" The muscle guy apologized about to offer me a hand, but Jasper gave him a get lost look so he just took his hand back.

I stood up with Jasper by my side. "It's not your fault." I said to muscles, while I grabbed my books. Jasper and I walked off after that to get to our last classes.

I had math. Jasper had science. Rosalie had English. We were all separated to different sides of the school. I liked math. It was easy. Plus, it gave me time to relax before heading home.

"Psst!" The girl behind me said poking me with her pencil.

I turned around and faced a girl who was like a fairy without her wings. She had short, short black spiky hair and bright blue eyes.

"What?" I whispered.

"Do you have a piece of gum?"

"Gum?"

"Yeah." She said, while melodramatically clacking her teeth together to get me to understand the concept of gum.

"Hold on." I said digging through my bag, until I found a piece and handed it to the girl.

"Thanks." She smiled. "My friend took my last piece. He's double my size and some so I couldn't stop him."

"Not a big deal." I said turning back to my math problems. The teacher stopped the class ten minutes later, proclaiming that it was last period and we could have two minutes to socialize. I gathered my stuff together and the pixie girl made that "pssst!" sound again.

I turned around. "Yes?"

"I'm Alice."

"Hi?" I said.

"And you are…?"

"Oh," I said, "um, I'm Bella."

"Bella, do you happen to take honors history with Mr. Emerson?"

"Yeah." I said.

"Right before this class?"

"Yeah, are you in that class?" I asked.

"No." She said and smiled again. "I'm not a stalker." She explained. "I just have a friend who would not stop talking about how you and this confederate ass hole argued the other day in class about the Civil War."

"Oh." I said. "That was me and Jasper. He's not an ass hole. He's just a very strategy oriented person."

"Do you have a fling with him?"

"Jasper?"

"Yeah."

"No." I said.

"Good." She said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"No, not, like, good good. Like, good – happy."

"Why good – happy?"

"Oh, no reason." She sang.

The bell rang and Alice walked next to me to the parking lot. She chattered away the whole way and when we got to the parking lot I saw Rosalie fixing her make-up in her red BMW convertible, I didn't know the kind, and Jasper was in his silver car next to her about to leave. My truck was next to their cars.

I was about to say goodbye to Alice when she sang out, "Edward!"

The beautiful man from my history class turned his head and gave a questioning look at Alice. Alice walked me over to him. At first I figured she was his girlfriend because honestly they were both gorgeous, but then I remembered her saying something about her – friend – in my class, not boyfriend.

"Bel-la." Alice sang. "This is Edward. I believe he has history with you." She winked at Edward. Was this some sort of joke? Get the ugly girl to have her heart crushed?

"Hello, Bella." Edward said.

"Hi." I said back.

"Bella is a life saver." Alice said.

"Really?" Edward asked intrigued.

"Yeah!" Alice said as if it was completely obvious. "She gave me gum. Remember how Emmett took my last piece?"

"That was nice of you." Edward said.

"It was a piece of gum." I said. "I… um, I have to go. My friends are waiting for me."

"That's so nice!" Alice said. "Emmett and Edward basically sprint out the door and don't even wait to see if I'm alive."

"It was nice talking to you. Bye?" I said like I was questioning myself.

"Bye, Bella." Edward said.

"See ya later!" Alice screamed after me.

**Edward's POV**

"Real smooth, Alice." I said walking to my car.

"Chill, Edward. I didn't tell her you thought she was pretty or that you thought she had an amazing voice or…"

"You make me sound like some crazed stalker."

"No, it's just cute." Alice said. "You have a crush. Admit it!"

"I don't even know her, Alice. She's just a girl."

"First, she's a woman. Second, you didn't deny it. Third," Alice said making me and her stop and she put a hand on my chest, "it's okay to crush."

I messed up her hair and continued walking with her trailing behind me. "Edward, I actually like Bella. She's not like any of your other girlfriends and plus I think you finally met your match."

"My match?" I asked, skeptically.

"She's not like those bim-boes you've dated where they like you and when you find out you hang out with them once and say something corny and get them to go make-out with you in the back of the Volvo by the end of your first date.

"Alice, I just said she was pretty. Not that she was some super-star-goddess."

"The Bella girl?" Emmett asked leaning against his car, which was parked two spots from mine and next to Alice's. All of us were not morning people and always got here too late to get a decent spot.

"Yes." Alice said and gave me a pointed look.

"She's hot." Emmett said and Alice stopped and looked at him. "You shut up. You cannot go after her. She is for Edward."

"Alice what is up with you?" I asked. She was acting weird, even for her.

"I just have this feeling." She said. "And Emmett how do you know her?"

"I ran into her, literally." Emmett laughed kindly.

Alice rolled her eyes and got into her car. "I'm going home. I'm cold."

"I thought we were hanging at Edward's?" Emmett asked.

"Yeah, well, you two are annoying me." Alice laughed. "Maybe I'll stop by later."

I got into my car and sped the whole way home with Emmett on my tail in his big jeep. We pulled into the long drive way into my, well my parents', white house on the lake. Emmett and I piled into the house and went straight to the kitchen. Emmett went to the refrigerator and I stood by the kitchen island ready to start cooking anything he placed on it. A frozen pizza came flying out, followed by some frozen mozzarella sticks, and followed by a ton of other junk food, until finally an apple hit me on the head. "Seriously?" I asked.

Emmett's booming laughter filled the kitchen. "We need some sort of fruit and veggies group."

"You don't eat apples, though."

"Eh."

"The pizza has tomato sauce." I suggested.

"That works." Emmett shrugged and slammed the refrigerator door shut.

Emmett and I heard the front door open and Alice floated through the house to the kitchen. "I'm starving and my mom is on that disgusting Atkins Diet where all you eat is meat."

"Food will be done in ten minutes." I said.

"Throw me the apple, Emmett." Alice ordered.

Emmett picked up the apple and began polishing it with his shirt, "How do you make an apple turnover?" He asked, while tossing the apple to Alice. She caught it and began eating.

"I don't know, Em." She said.

"You push it down a hill!" Emmett began laughing at his own joke. Alice was about to throw the apple at his head when I gave her a look telling her Esme would not be happy to get home from work and have to clean apple juice.

"Why can't one of you two be girls?" Alice asked suddenly.

"Edward's sort of like a girl." Emmett offered.

"Nice, Emmett." I said.

"You're more like a girl than I am. Could you imagine me as a girl? I'd be one ugly looking girl. All muscle and not an ounce of fat to…"

"See!" Alice said. "This is why I need a friend who's not a total pervert."

"I'm not." I said.

"Ugh, but you're a guy." Alice said sadly.

Alice didn't have friends who were girls and it wasn't because she would steal their boyfriends or because she would spread rumors, but because Alice was, well, Alice. She was a tiny person with a huge personality. She could be demanding and would be honest. If you went shopping with her she won't hesitate to tell you the truth, which is why Jessica Stanley started a rumor that Alice was anorexic. Alice isn't a bad person, but she's just very dominating and sometimes people didn't like that.

Alice and I have been friends since kindergarten when our moms began to chat. At the time my mom worked from home and so she was around a lot. Alice's parents were never home and being my neighbor she would just hang out with me. Emmett came into our little group in first grade when he sat at our lunch table because Mike Newton was dared to eat glue… and did and even at that age it repulsed Emmett enough to move his seat. We'd all been friends ever since then.

And yeah we fought and shit, but at the end of the day they were always there. We'd all had our shares of relationships. Emmett with his dumb-as-doorknob cheerleaders, me with talkative girls, and Alice with her guys. Whenever one of us had a relationship it strained our friendship. Maybe it was because we weren't used to adding someone in our circle or maybe because we all had bad taste in the opposite gender. Alice always hated Emmett's girlfriends because they'd be bitchy towards her and I could never stand how they couldn't hold a conversation for longer than a minute without bringing it to Brad Pitt. My girlfriends always pissed off Emmett and Alice for some reason. Alice always had it the hardest because Emmett and I would be cool with him, but he would never like it when Alice would just hang out with us.

'BING!' The timer to the oven went off and I ran to go grab it when Emmett threw the oven mittens at me, but they went into the oven and landed on top of the pizza getting stuck in the cheese.

"Now what?!" I asked rubbing the bridge of my nose.

"You're acting like you have PMS, man." Emmett said.

"Chill you two." Alice said going into the laundry room and grabbing a towel and using that as an oven mitten to get the pizza out. Alice placed another towel on the counter and placed the pizza down. Emmett was impatient to get his pizza and instead of waiting for the cheese to cool down he got a knife and tried cutting it, only to create a tangled mess of cheese. Then he looked like he was about to give up when Alice said, "Emmett you demolished it!"

Then we heard the door open followed by my parents holding two boxes of pizza. "Thank God!" Emmett screamed looking to the ceiling.


	2. Chapter 2

**Bella's POV**

Instead of going to Jasper or Rose's house to hang out, I went straight to Jacob Black's house. Jake was my first friend when I moved to Seattle. He was a grade younger and I could tell that friendship was not enough for him. After my mom passed, I just couldn't have that kind of relationship. Of course, that was three years ago and I had been in a few relationships. None included Jake and he didn't take to that too kindly, but other times he'd be a cool friend.

I pulled up to his little house and didn't bother going to the house, but went straight to his garage. He was working on his own car in his spare time.

"Jake?" I called out while walking into the garage and trying to avoid tripping.

"Bells?" He asked coming out from under the car.

"Hey." I smiled and sat down on a pile of tires. I almost fell into the little holes, but avoided the embarrassment.

"What are you doing over in this side of town?"

"I came to see how you were doing."

"Did Billy put you up to this?" He asked flatly.

"No?" I said confused. "Why would Billy put me up to this?"

"Don't worry about it." He said.

"Jake…"

"It's not your problem, Bella." He said and then he laughed. "God, I miss you. How've you been?"

My laughing, fun, carefree Jake was back. "I've been okay. Jasper and Rose have been keeping me busy."

"That's good. Charlie was here the other day and mentioned how you're never home."

"Was he mad?"

"Charlie? No. He can't get mad at you. I think he's concerned he's not a good parent."

"Oh." I stated. "It's just not easy being in that house. He's fine, but…"

"I understand." Jake said. "That's why I spend more time in here. My house reminds me of my mom too."

"Yeah, it sucks… trying to avoid your own house."

"Yeah Rebecca and Rachel never come home if they don't have to."

"Your sisters?"

"Yeah." He said.

We were hanging out just like old times. I missed him. I didn't want to ruin the day by asking him a favor on Rose's behalf. So I didn't. I don't wish to use Jake anymore than he thinks that I have. I started driving home around seven. To be honest, I can't remember the last time I'd gotten home from school before nine. I usually just avoided going home until I had to sleep and even then I would usually try and find a way out of it. I'd sleep at Rose's or at Jasper's.

When I got home and opened the door Charlie turned around with a shocked expression on his face.

"Is everything alright?" He asked immediately. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine and no I'm not hurt. I thought I could make you dinner since I'm never home."

"Oh, well, then… okay."

I went into the kitchen and began to cook some pasta. It was the only thing we actually had in the kitchen that was edible. When I was finished I set the table and called Charlie to the room.

"Bells, this is nice." Charlie said sitting down.

I sat across from him and smiled while we began to eat. Charlie wasn't much of a talker and I wasn't either. It was nice, though.

"How's work been?" I asked.

He nodded his head as he said, "Good. The crime rate is about the same, though. I hope you're not hanging out in the bad parts of the city."

"Nope." I said.

"Good," he said, "I don't know what I would do without you."

**Edward's POV**

Alice, Emmett, and I were sitting in my living room. Alice was on the sectional couch, laying down on her stomach and doing math homework. Emmett was also sitting on the sectional, but he was on the part in front of the coffee table devouring all the food, while he was playing Halo with me.

Alice's phone began to ring, but it was on the coffee table.

"Emmett pick that up." Alice said.

"Ugh." Emmett whined and paused the game and picked up her phone. "Yo."

"Yo?" I laughed and Alice rolled her eyes.

"Rosalie…" Emmett said. "Do I know you...? ... I didn't think so… I'm not a creep, woman…. Just trying to figure out who you are. Yeah hold on."

Emmett tossed the phone to Alice. She began chatting away for several minutes and Emmett and I resumed our game. When Alice hung up Emmett said, "I need that girl's number."

**Bella's POV**

It was the next morning and I had a weird feeling that it was going to be a good day. The sun was shining in my window and I got up easily, took a shower, and got dressed. I ran down the stairs waved goodbye to Charlie and got into my car. I was driving when I saw an annoyed Jasper at a stop sign with a few freshmen. I stopped and rolled my window down.

"What are you doing out here?"

"My mom needed to borrow my car while hers is in the shop." He said while getting into the passenger side.

"You should have called me."

He shrugged.

We arrived at school a few minutes later. We were walking up the stairs to the school when Jasper stopped. I walked up a step and then I saw why Jasper stopped. There was a very large pink poster with a picture of Rosalie from the summer in a bikini and in big words it said "Vote for me for Valentine's Princess!"

My eyes widened. I was shocked. She didn't tell me or Jasper. I slowly walked up to the poster with Jasper slowly behind me. We stared at it for a few more moments. Then an angry Rosalie came from the school and ripped the poster down.

"I didn't think you were going to that dance…?"

"I'm not!" Rose said.

"Did someone else put these up?" Jasper asked.

"Obviously." Rose sneered. "I don't know why, though!"

"It's a… um… cute picture." I laughed.

"Isabella Swan you better tell me you didn't do this for some sort of joke?" Rose asked in a deadly voice.

I rolled my eyes, Rose didn't scare me anymore. "I wouldn't do that."

She sighed, "Whatever. It's a great picture."

The rest of the day went by pretty uneventful. Rose transformed from being angry to being somewhat flattered. In the school newspaper it said that she was the favorite to win. Rose was now looking for a dress to the dance.

There was a substitute for math class. He took attendance and handed each of us a worksheet. The worksheet consisted of about ten math problems that were at a seventh grade level. Once we were finished he told us we could leave early. It took me ten minutes to wrap up my work and hand it to the teacher. I began walking to my car in the frigid February cold air when Alice screamed, "Wait up!"

I stopped and waited until she made it up to me. "Aren't you cold?" I asked. She was wearing a skirt with boots.

"Pain is beauty." She shrugged, walking next to me. "So, I have a favor to ask."

"What?" I asked rubbing my hands together trying to cause some sort of heat to enter my body.

"Your friend Rosalie told me that you're really great at drawing and stuff and I wanted to know if you could help me for my fashion class."

"I… I'm not _that_ great at drawing."

"She showed me some of your work in the art room. It was spectacular! And I don't really have any friends who could help me and it's just the cover and it shouldn't be that hard. It'll take you ten minutes to draw tops."

"What would I be drawing?"

"Just a picture of some friends, pleaseee?"

"Um, well I'm sure I can fit it in somehow."

"You're so nice, Bella! Do you think you could help me today?"

She looked so excited that I couldn't say no. So I nodded my head as I began walking towards my car. "Right now?" I asked.

"If you wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all." I smiled. "I'll drive you to your car."

Alice hopped into my truck and I began to drive to the parking lot until she screamed, "Stop!" I laughed and stopped my car as she hopped into her yellow car. "Just follow me."

I followed her, which was extremely hard considering how fast she was going. My truck couldn't handle much more and she lived far away from the school.

She pulled down a curvy driveway to a white house on a lake. I was in awe. It was so gorgeous and my truck and I were just out of place. I parked my car anyway and hopped out. I followed Alice to the front door where she punched in a code on the fancy machine and she walked me into the house.

"Alice, you're house is so pretty." I said.

She laughed, "Oh, my house is next door. This is Edward's house. I left all of my designs and papers at his house."

"Will he mind me being here?" I asked. I didn't want to intrude.

"Nah. Emmett and I basically live here. They'll get here in a little while."

"Oh." I said as she led me to the living room where there was a massive sectional couch and plasma television. She grabbed a pile of books from the corner of the room.

"Alright," she began getting business-like while plopping down on the couch, "these are my fashion designs. They're supposed to be sophisticated, yet, high school style." She smiled at me. "Bella, you can sit." I did. "I need a picture of a few friends wearing some of these designs. I've tried, but I can't draw normal people right. They always end up too modelsque, is that a word?"

"I don't think so." I said while looking through Alice's sketch pad. I had a similar one, but it was hidden underneath my bed. Occasionally, I'd show something to Rose or Jasper, but not often. Alice's designs were mind-blowing. "They're… amazing, Alice. Not even just the designs, but the drawing techniques you've used."

She flashed me a big smile, "Thanks! I show these to Emmett and Edward and they kind-of glance and all, but they don't appreciate it. Men."

We laughed together. Then Emmett came running through the house with Edward closely behind.

"Ha ha, Edward! You can't catch me!" Emmett yelled running around the first floor of the house. He was like a toddler, with the body of an eighteen year old.

"You're going down, Emmett!" Edward said with a smile on his face.

"Only if you can catch me!" Emmett yelled taking off again.

"Ha!" Edward said as he dove at Emmett. They were laughing as they collided, but they both hit a table with a vase on it. It came crashing down. Alice frowned at them.

"Shit." Emmett said.

"Fuck." Edward muttered.

"Idiots!" Alice yelled at them. "That's Esme's favorite."

"No, shit." Edward said while standing up.

"Well, we can just buy a new one?" Emmett said, standing up and dusting the invisible dust off of his shoulders.

"It's from France." Alice said, "She'd know the difference from a mile away."

"Fuck." Emmett said.

"Alright, we get that it sucks." Alice said to Emmett. "No need to curse a million times."

Emmett went to go pick up a piece.

"Stop." I said suddenly. Emmett and Edward noticed me the first time and both their mouths formed 'O'. It would have been quite hysterical if I wasn't so nervous for some strange reason. "I can probably fix it."

Emmett high-fived tiny Alice and Edward beamed at me. I got down on all fours by the broken vase. It was broken into two large pieces. "I had to fix this plate my step-dad gave my mom once. You should still tell your mother. Just incase this doesn't hold."

"What are you going to do to it?" Edward asked.

"Use this really cool glue. It's designed to fix china and stuff." I said. "Alice, can you hand me my bag?"

Alice hopped over, grabbed my bag and gingerly put it down.

"You carry glue with you?" Emmett asked, hiding a smile.

"I knew I'd get some use of it someday." I smiled at him, while gently picking up one of the pieces of the vase. I put small dabs of glue here and there. Everyone was watching me in silence. I then attached the two pieces together. Gently, still from the ground, I placed the vase back onto the table. I wondered if Edward's mother was one of those step-fords like wives.

"You're amazing." Edward said, he extended his hand to me.

I took it and allowed him to help me up.

"Wow." Emmett laughed. He put his head up to the vase and started to inspect it.

"Be careful!" Alice shrieked nearly causing Emmett to fall onto it.

"Let's all take a step back from the vase." Edward said as my cell phone went off. I thought of ignoring it, but I saw it was Jasper.

"Hold on." I said to everyone. "Jazz?"

He laughed into the phone. "I don't remember where you parked this morning? Are you already in your car?"

Shit. I forgot about Jasper.

"Where's Rose?" I asked.

"She left for work."

Damn.

Jasper sensed my silence and knew somehow. "I can walk home or call my mother."

"No way." I said. "I'll be there in ten minutes, okay?"

"Take your time." He said.

I hung up the phone with him.

"I have to go." I said to everyone. Emmett went to the kitchen taking stuff out of the refrigerator. Alice was sitting criss-cross on the floor next to my feet and Edward was standing next to me.

"I'll get him." Alice offered.

I raised an eyebrow at her.

"I noticed you drove him to school." She said. "I forgot until now about you drove him. I'll go get…?"

"Jasper."

"Yeah, I drive faster. I can drive him to his house or here or whatever works for you."

I didn't want to be stuck in Edward's house with Emmett all by myself. I didn't know if that would be awkward. I barely knew either of them.

"Stay." Edward said to me.

"Listen to him." Alice said standing up.

"I'll cook for you!" Emmett boomed from the kitchen.

"Um." I said.

"Please?" Alice asked. "I want to go over some more stuff with the cover?"

"Sure." I said. Alice didn't wait and skipped out the door.

"Don't eat anything Emmett gives you." Edward whispered while walking me to the kitchen. I sat on a stool as Emmett whisked almost all of the contents of the refrigerator on to the counter. I had to duck a few times. Edward would look at the food on the counter and then to me with an apologetic face.

"Edward you don't have to be a girl anymore!" Emmett said with his head in the freezer now.

"What?" I asked as Edward said, "Fuck you, Emmett. What the hell are you talking about?"

"Alice." Emmett said. "She wanted a female friend," Emmett wiggled his eyebrows, "to hang out with. Alice was designing a dress in Edward's size."

Edward rolled his eyes at me and I laughed. We all spent the time hanging out for the next hour. I beat Emmett at Halo, which he claimed impossible. Edward sat back and laughed when Emmett would curse.

"Where's Alice?" I asked eventually.

"Knowing her she's probably at the mall buying a new wardrobe for you." Edward said.

My eyes widened.

"I'm just kidding, Bella. Although, I'm sure she'd love to."

"Don't scare me like that." I smiled.

"Who is up for the desserts?" Emmett asked.

"I'm so full, Emmett." I whined. Emmett stood up and went to the kitchen.

"I think I'm gonna head home." I told Edward. "Just tell Alice that I'll talk to her tomorrow?"

"Sure." Edward said. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," I said walking to the front door with Edward, "bye Emmett!"

"Bye, Bella!" Emmett yelled.

"I'll see you later." I said to Edward.

He leaned against his front door and smiled crookedly at me as I walked away.


	3. Chapter 3

_hiya! :]_

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**Bella's POV**

I went straight to our diner. It was in the middle of the city and sort of the place that was often called a hole-in-the-wall, but that's why we all love it. Not only did they have the best coffee, service, but it was cheap and it allowed us all to relax. I walked in and heard the ding of the bells on top of the door. I waved to the owner, Peter; he was wearing a flannel old shirt rolled up and jeans. I turned to my left and saw Rose sitting at our table. She had a large coffee mug in front of her.

"About time." Rose said.

"I'm sorry," I said, "I thought Jasper was with you?"

"I haven't seen him since school."

"What?" I asked as I took my seat across from Rose and started taking everything out of my bag in search of my cell phone. I eventually found it and started dialing the numbers I had memorized back in eighth grade when we thought we were cool for having a phone.

"He's not answering!" I said to Rose.

"Why are you freaking out?"

"I sent Alice to get him and now he's not answering? She could've forgotten him."

Rose rolled her eyes, "He can take care of himself."

I ignored her, "Do you have Alice's number?"

She handed me her sleek black phone. I searched for Alice's number and called. She didn't answer.

"Bella, calm down." Rose said as my breathing picked up.

"I can't believe myself… ugh… do you have Edward's number? Maybe they went to his house."

"Give back my phone." Rosalie said.

I gave her a look as she extended her hand out to me. Reluctantly, I gave her back her phone. She dialed a few numbers. "Hey Mike." She said into the phone as my eyes went wide; when she saw my look she winked. "Yeah, I'm glad… Really? That's so awesome, Mike… Hey, by chance do you have Edward Cullen's number? ... You do? Could you be a gentleman and text me his number? Thank you so much!"

I laughed at Rose when she slammed her phone shut. A moment later Rose got a text message with Edward's number and a text asking her out on a date. Chicken.

I called Edward from my phone.

"Hello?" Edward's silky voice said through the phone.

"Hey, Edward, I'm sorry for calling you, but…"

"Bella?" He asked.

"Yeah." I said cringing. "I'm sorry for calling, I got your number, well Rose got your number from Newton and I'm…um calling to ask if you know where Jasper and Alice are or if they're at your house?"

"No, they're not here." Edward said.

"Well, um, if you find out could you text me?"

"Sure Bella."

I hung up

"No you don't. Bella, Jasper is probably hanging out with Alice as we speak."

"What if they're broken down in some remote area of the city?"

"Have you seen Alice's car?"

"It could happen."

"Yeah, and then your dad would see them and bring them home."

"Not helping." I said. "I'm a horrible friend."

"Your insecurity of things this stupid really annoys me."

"I left him at the school – stranded."

As I was talking, through the glass I saw Jasper's car pull into a parking space. "Look!" Rose said mockingly. "He's here. He probably went home to get his car."

"I…" I was about to speak again, but my jaw probably hit the table as I saw Jasper get out and then go over to the passenger door and open it up for Alice. Then he put his arm around her tiny waist and she smiled up at him.

"What the fuck?" Rose asked.

The door dinged as Alice and Jasper came into the diner. Jasper saw us and came with Alice to sit with us. He saw our incredulous stares.

"So what have you two been up to?" Rose asked with a smirk.

"Alice would you like something to drink?" Jasper said standing up and ignoring Rose's question.

Alice smiled, "Vanilla mocha latte with whipped cream?"

Jasper laughed and walked off.

"Alice, have you seduced Jasper?" Rose asked.

"No, well, maybe a little." She laughed.

"What happened?" I asked, but was cut off by Alice's phone going off. She answered it this time.

"Edward, stop calling me." Alice said into the phone. "Oh." She said after a moment, and then looked up at me smiling, "You were looking for us?" I nodded as she kept going with her conversation. "Well, I'm with her now. Would you like to speak to her?"

"No need." Edward said startling all of us. He was walking into the diner and smiled knowingly at us. "May I have a seat?"

"Sure." I said as he took a chair from another table and brought it to ours.

Jasper came back with Alice's order and his own. He looked amused to see Edward there. Alice introduced them to each other. They shook hands and Edward's eyes went wide as he saw the proximity of Jasper and Alice. They were sitting close together and Jasper had his hand around the back of her chair, not in a showy way, more in an unconscious manner.

Rose left after about an hour of talking with everyone. Jasper and Alice then left a little while later. It was just Edward and I now.

**Edward's POV**

I sat across from Bella as she awkwardly took a sip of coffee. We sat in silence for a few moments before she got a huge smile on her face. "What?" I asked.

She shook her head back and forth, still smiling, it was adorable. "Bella," I said. Her smile widened and she took another sip of her drink. "Come on."

"I've never seen Jasper so… I don't know… happy?" She said.

"Well, I've never seen Alice so calm."

"Jasper has that affect on people."

"Yeah, but Alice? She's like a bursting bubble of energy."

"That's true," Bella laughed. "I barely had one conversation with her before she insisted that I help with her project."

"She's a little…" I said searching for a word.

"Spunky?" Bella questioned, filling in the blank.

I laughed, "Yeah, she's definitely spunky."

And so, Bella and I talked for the next two hours about everything and nothing. She was just a cool person to talk to or not talk to, whichever the case may be. I was comfortable around her. So, when I got home I couldn't get her smile out of my mind.

Alice came over around nine to get her books. She was basically jumping with joy around the whole house. "Alice, dear," Esme called to her from the kitchen where she was drinking a glass of wine with Carlisle, "be careful. I don't want you to fall down."

Alice stopped jumping, but started dancing around the house.

"Alice what's up with you?" I asked.

"Like you don't know." She said.

"Fill me in." I said.

"Well, today was, like, the most exciting day of my life."

"Did you go skydiving?" I asked.

She smacked my arm playfully, "No. I hung out with Jasper and Bella and Rosalie."

"And me and Emmett."

"Eh, I do that everyday." Alice scrunched her nose jokingly.

"Ouch." I said laughing as she danced out the door.

**

I awoke the next morning to my cell phone screaming in my ear. I was about to throw it against the wall, but restrained myself from breaking my phone. I got up took a shower in my bathroom and got dressed. I was basically slept walked to the kitchen. Esme and Carlisle were animatedly talking at the kitchen table. I ignored them as I grabbed my keys off the counter and left for school.

I got to the school parking lot now somewhat awake. Even though I hadn't gone out of my way this morning or slept an extra ten minutes I was still late. I had to park in the back. Emmett's car was next to mine. I parked my car and got out of my car into the fucking freezing weather. It sucked. I then had to laugh. Emmett was sitting in his driver seat, his head leaning against the side window, and he was sound asleep with his mouth wide open. No joke.

I knocked on Emmett's window. He hit his head on the window as he jumped up with shocked eyes. Fucking hilarious. He then scowled at me as he rubbed his forehead.

He opened his door pushing it into me.

"Jack ass." He laughed striding to school with his bag over his shoulder.

"I try," I said lamely while laughing.

We were walking on the path to school when we heard a girl scream. Which was uncommon considering that it was, I don't know, six thirty in the morning.

Emmett and I began sprinting like police officers. When we got to the source of the screaming we both rolled our eyes. Jessica Stanley was staring at a huge poster of herself. In the poster she wasn't wearing any make-up, was wearing flannel pajamas, and her hair was wild. Everyday she came into school wearing more than enough make-up for a city of clowns. She was probably horrified anyone would see her without her clown mask.

"Medusa meets a clown?" Jasper said to us as he walked towards us. Emmett laughed heartily and I just smiled. I'd never hung out with Jasper, but he seemed cool enough.

"More like Medusa had a clown's baby and named it Jessica." Emmett said.

"You're such an asshole." I laughed. We were all walking into the school at this point. Rosalie saw us and walked up to us.

"You two," She looked to Emmett then me, "Are definitely not Alice."

"Nope, sorry." Emmett said.

"I didn't say I was going to find her." Jasper said.

"You're not too hard to read." Rosalie said.

"Alice," I said, "doesn't get to school until halfway through first period."

"What?" Rosalie asked.

"Yeah," Emmett said, "she needs more time to get ready."

"We –" Rose began, but the minute warning bell rang. She smiled at us before taking off. Emmett ran to catch up to her after shooting us thumbs up sign.

"Later." Jasper said before taking off in the mix of people. I turned around and before I could get out of it… I saw an ex. One of those clingy girls who wanted to remain "friends", although we didn't end on good terms.

"Edward!" Tanya said, latching her elbow with mine and walking with me through the halls.

"Hey." I said stealing a glance at her. She was wearing a jean skirt and a T-shirt with those Ugg boots. It was freezing out and she was wearing a skirt. Crazy. I continued to walk with her. We had first period together.

"So how are Emmett and Alice?" She asked as we rounded a corner. I shrugged. She never really cared for them, although, she did try, but she just was more for having just me. "I miss you." She said quietly.

I took a deep breath.

"Not like that." She said. "I miss hanging out with you. You're really sweet. I miss that."

I detached my arm from hers as we made it to the front of the classroom doors. "Yeah." I mumbled.

"I'll see you later then?" She said giving up.

"Yeah." I said, but just then a huge smile spread across my face. I knew I was going to see Bella later.

When it was time for lunch I just about screamed. My day was just not going my way. Jessica, then Tanya, then I got a detention from a teacher because I left to use the restroom without permission. Just a few more months until graduation then I can toilet paper the school. Yeah, and I bet Emmett would help.

I got to the cafeteria and saw that neither Alice nor Emmett were there. That was weird considering they were usually there before me. I sat down. Not even thirty seconds passed before I received a text message from Alice.

_"whattt are u doing??!"_

_"?" _

_"loooook to ur left. 3 tables from the front." _

I shut my phone and looked to my left. Near the front of the cafeteria I saw Alice in-between Jasper and Emmett. Next to Emmett was Rosalie and next to her was Bella. There was an empty seat. I stood up and strode across the cafeteria to their table. I pulled out the seat and sat down.

"Alice, you couldn't have just walked over and got me?" I joked.

"Technology!" Alice sang holding up her cell phone. "Which reminds me; I need everyone's cell phone numbers."

**Bella's POV**

I was starving. I got to lunch early and was surprised to see Alice was already sitting down at our table.

"Hey, Alice." I smiled at her as I sat down and pulled an apple from my bag.

"Hi!" She said smiling. "So, I'm sorry about not working on the project with you. Would you want to work on it today?"

"I would…" I began as Rose took a seat next to me, "but I have detention."

"You?" Rose asked looking at me.

"Why?" Alice asked.

I sighed, "I stepped on Newton's foot in gym and –"

"No way!" Emmett said reaching his hand out for a high five. Emmett sat down in-between Alice and Rosalie. It was weird to have him here, but I liked him so it was kind of cool. I shook his hand off.

" – it was an accident! But, the gym teacher thought I did it on purpose, hence the detention."

"That's so unfair, Bella." Rose said. "You should have explained to the gym teacher you're a natural klutz."

"That boosted my self-esteem a lot Rose, thanks." I said sarcastically as Jasper sat down next to Alice. His face was pure shock to see it so full. He grabbed Alice's hand underneath the table.

"I'm serious, though." Rose continued. "You said it was an accident?"

"Yes, Rose. I did. But, whatever, I've wanted to step on his foot so often lately that its not like I shouldn't be punished for it. I wasn't sorry for what I did." I shrugged.

"Whoa." Emmett laughed. "Rosie remind me not to get on Bella's bad side."

"Rosie?" Rosalie asked and raised her eyebrow.

"It suits you." Emmett smiled.

"I'll stick with ROSALIE, thanks for your suggestion, though."

"No problem, Rosie."

"Rosalie."

"Rosie."

"Whatever, Em-baby."

"EM-BABY?" Emmett laughed hard.

Rose shrugged acting cool, "Suits you."

"Whatever, Rosie."

"Same to you Em-baby."

They had a stare-off for a moment before Alice and Jasper laughed at them.

"You're each others halves." Alice said, her lips twitching.

"Oh, please." Rosalie scowled.

"Duplicates." Jasper mumbled.

"Shut it." Emmett smiled as the seat next to me was being pulled out. Edward sat down and began to talk to Alice. By the end of lunch we were all laughing and smiling and acting like we've been sitting together for an eternity.

-------------

:]


	4. Chapter 4

_Hey! I find it really amazing that people have put me on alerts and such. So, thank you. I almost screamed when I saw them in my inbox.. and I was at school, so that wouldn't be good :] _

**Bella's POV**

I ended up having a math test last period. Before it started Alice talked to me about the picture and I promised to try and start it tonight. The test was taking everyone a ridiculous amount of time. The dismissal bell rang and I still had a few questions to go and I still needed to check my final answers. About fifteen minutes passed before I handed in my test. I waved goodbye to Alice and walked toward the classroom hosting the detention. When I got there people were already situated in a desk and the teacher looked at me annoyed.

"Late." She said.

"I was taking a test." I said.

"Name?" She asked.

"Isabella Swan."

"Great." She checked off my name and motioned for me to take a seat. The only seats left were in the front of the classroom. I plopped down and hoped that the next two hours would allow me to work on my sketch for Alice.

A moment later a few more people walked in. I decided to just ignore them all. It would go faster without having to avoid attention.

The teacher slammed a dictionary down on her desk to get our attention. "We're about to become best friends for the next two hours. Rules: silence at all times, no food, no phone, no Ipod, you must write an eight sentence paper explaining the reason being here and how you'll help yourself."

Ten minutes later I couldn't stand the "Pssst!" noise coming from the student next to me. I picked my head up from my work and stared at him and then my jaw dropped. It was Edward.

He was smiling softly at me.

"Bella?" He asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask the same question to you." I laughed quietly. "I stepped on Newton's foot in gym and tripped him."

"What'd he do?" Edward asked.

"Nothing." I said.

"So you just felt like tripping him?" Edward asked amused.

"No." I said. "No. It was an accident."

"Sure." Edward laughed. I turned to look at the teacher to see if we'd get in trouble, but she was engrossed in a romance novel with a cover of a half-naked man. She looked as if she was going to begin drooling.

"Seriously." I said. "But whatever, why are you here?"

"I went to the bathroom without asking."

"You're such a bad ass." I laughed.

He winked at me and I smiled back.

I quickly looked away and took out a piece of paper and began to write. Less than ten minutes, I was done. I began to notice every detail of every annoying aspect of this classroom. The clock on the wall was ticking, loudly. The person behind me would not stop tapping his pen. The teacher sighed every thirty seconds. Then I noticed Edward had his head on his desk and looked to be trying to sleep. It was… cute.

I took out my sketch pad and began to absently draw what I had in mind for Alice's cover. In the sketch Rosalie was standing in the center wearing one of Alice's designs. I had Jasper in the left back behind her smiling and wearing another one of Alice's designs. I was going to draw myself, but it was harder. It was one thing to have someone draw you, but drawing myself didn't work out. I always drew myself too pretty or too ugly. Rose said I didn't see myself clearly. I'd prove her wrong by drawing myself.

A step away from Rosalie I began to draw my outline.

"Ten minutes." The teacher announced.

I began to notice my surroundings again. People were squirming around now. They were ready to leave. I kicked Edward's chair. He lifted his head from his desk and I tried to stifle a laugh when I saw he rested his head on a paperclip and it was now embedded into his cheek.

"It's four-thirty. Go home." The teacher announced and everyone cheered and began walking out. Edward walked out with me.

"So what were you working on so hard?" Edward asked me.

"Oh." I said. "Just Alice's cover. I get carried away sometimes."

"Can I see it?"

"No."

"What?"

"It's embarrassing. I haven't perfected it yet."

"I bet its fine."

"When it's done."

"Promise?"

"Yeah." I said. Then Edward and my phone's went off at the same time. It was a text from Alice.

_"EVERYONE. Diner? With Jazz & me? Five?"_

"Jasper goes by Jazz?" Edward asked me as we continued walking.

I laughed. "Nope, only Alice calls him that. It's sort of like the thing Rose and Emmett having going on."

"What would that be?" He asked confused.

"Oh, right." I said. "You came to lunch late. Well, Rosalie is now Rosie and Emmett is Em-baby."

Edward laughed loudly. "Em-baby?"

I shrugged. "It sort of fits."

"Emmett's, like, two hundred pounds of muscle. I don't think he looks like a baby."

"No, but he acts like one sometimes."

"Very true, Bella."

"Ed –" I began, but was cut off by my phone ringing. "Hold on." I said as I took out my phone.

"Alice?" I asked.

"Yes." She answered. "Put me on speaker."

"Okay," I said. "I did."

Edward raised an eyebrow at this.

"Hey Edward!" Alice said.

"How'd you know I was with him?" I asked.

"I just do. But, that's not why I called. Why didn't either of you answer my text?"

"We just got it." Edward said.

"Yeah." I said. "We haven't made it to our cars yet."

"Well, you two are procrastinating. Pick up the pace and get to the diner!"

I hung up on Alice and smiled as I reached my car. "Do you need a lift to your car?" I asked.

"No that's…" He said as it started to snow. "… um, actually."

"Hop in." I laughed.

**Alice's POV**

The more time I spent with Jasper, the more time I felt cheated out of my high school experience. I had one semester left of school. One and just now did our tiny group of three spread to six and become renewed. So not fair.

Whatever, Jasper and I were at Mythical Diner. He sat next to me as we waited for our friends to show. Emmett was the first one to show up. He went to get a coffee before returning to us.

"I can't believe I never knew of this diner!" Emmett said. "It's the only place where you don't need to use those fancy names!"

Jasper laughed.  
"They're not hard, Emmett." I said.

"I bet Jasper has the same difficulty at ordering as I do."

"Sorry," Jasper said to me, "but whenever I go somewhere where I need some fancy name I have Rosalie or Bella order for me."

"It's ridiculous." I said.

"They just try to sound fancy. That's all." Jasper reasoned.

"No." I laughed. "You're silly, I meant, that it's ridiculous you have Rose and Bella order for you. Man it up, Jasper. What if I needed you to pick me up a coffee?"

"I'd have you text it to me?" He said like a question.

I rolled my eyes, but smiled when Jasper kissed my nose.

"My eyes!" Emmett joked covering his face.

"Rosalie picked the perfect name for you!" I laughed at Emmett as Jasper threw a napkin at him.

"Ugh, I'm not a baby!"

"Was that you whining?" Rosalie asked coming into the diner. She had her hair thrown back in a ponytail and had on a loose T-shirt that was stained with grease and jeans.

Emmett's eyes bugged out. Cupid seriously needs to calm down whatever electricity he sent to Emmett at that moment.

"Well?" Rose asked sitting down next to Emmett.

"Nope." Emmett said. "That was me telling some truths."

"He was whining like a baby." I added in and stuck my tongue out at him.

**Edward's POV**

As she drove me to my car I began looking through her many CDs. She glanced over to me, "Jasper makes me most of those. That's why there's no title or anything."

"What do you like listening to?"

"Anything." She said.

"Really?"

"Basically." She told me as she pulled into the spot next to my car.

"Get in my car." I told her. "I want to show you some music. I'll drive you here after we meet everyone."

"Alright." She said getting out of her car and into the passenger seat of mine.

I took my Ipod out of my backpack and put it in the connector to the car's speakers. I started driving as Weezer began.

"I know Weezer." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm starting off easy."

She laughed at me and picked up my Ipod from where it was resting in-between us. She began scrolling through some things and then clicked.

AC/DC came blaring through the speakers. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's your 'Recently Played' play list." She smiled while bopping her head to the beat.

I joined her bopping and halfway through the car trip we began to let loose and become silly. Bella was lip syncing quite embarrassingly and I was too.

I pulled up to the Mythical Diner laughing and Bella put a hand over her heart in mock hurt. We got out and headed for everyone else inside. Why everyone loved this place was beyond me, but they loved it and I would follow them.

The snow was frigid and bitter, but Bella and I ran into the diner and laughed. When we got in she stood on her tippy-toes to get the snow out of my hair. I laughed at her and shook my hair out onto her.

"That's no way to treat a lady!" Alice yelled at us.

Bella ducked her head and went to sit with the group, I shrugged.

After Bella and I got our drinks and Emmett got his third hot chocolate, we were all sitting at a table staring out at the snow.

"I want to make a snow man!" Emmett proclaimed. He always did so it wasn't a surprise to me or Alice, but Bella, Jasper, and Rosalie looked at him with surprised faces.

"Ugh, not another one!" Rosalie said.

"What?" Alice screeched. "Ew, please, tell me Jasper doesn't like to build snowmen!"

"Hey!" Bella and Emmett said.

"You like the snow?" I asked Bella.

She smiled, "Just building snowmen."

"Thank god." Alice said.

"Why?" Jasper asked her.

"Emmett can have someone to drag outside."

"So can Bella." Jasper muttered, but I saw him nudge Bella's leg with his.

She smiled at him and said, "Whatever, me and Emmett will have fun without you killjoys."

"Yeah, you say it, sister!" Emmett said.

"That's a little too far." Bella laughed.

"Hey, everyone." Peter said coming to our table. "I'm afraid we're going to be closing up a little early tonight."

"What? Why? When?" Alice asked.

"Well, the snow is supposed to turn into a blizzard, Alice." Peter said. "I want to get my employees out and get home to my wife before the roads get too icy. I suggest you guys get home soon too."

Peter walked away and Emmett rolled his eyes.

"We can handle a little snow, right?" Emmett asked.

"I'm not afraid of it." Rosalie told him.

"Good," Alice said, "cause I wanted to stop at the grocery store for some drawing supplies."

"I can bring you." Jasper said.

"Wait." I said. "Isn't there some at my house?"

"No." Alice said.

"Well, let's head out, peeps!" Emmett said standing up.

I had Rosalie in my car, she proclaimed she needed an Emmett break. Bella went with Emmett to talk about snowmen. Jasper and Alice went together. We all decided to meet at the school parking lot before departing.

The first words out of Rosalie's mouth were, "You hurt her, I hurt you. Ten times worse."

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Don't act stupid. I know you're in they're advanced history, Edward. You aren't stupid."

"Rosalie…"

"No, Edward, listen. You may not be with Bella now, but it's going to happen."

"How do you –"

"Alice. Plus, I have my own intuition. Just, listen. Bella's gone through some really tough stuff and I won't let you add on to that list."

"I don't intend to be on some hurt list." I said.

"Good." Rosalie said and smiled, pushing her hair back.

I hopped out of my car at the parking lot. Rosalie was standing next to me and we were in a little circle with Jasper and Alice.

"Where's Emmett?" I asked.

"I don't know." Alice said.

"Maybe he was behind us?" Jasper offered.

"No." Rosalie said. "He drives like a maniac."

"Just like you?" Jasper asked.

"Somewhat." Rosalie smiled.

"Ah!!!" Alice screeched.

"Alice, Alice!" Jasper shouted.

"I just got hit with something!" She yelled.

And before we knew it, so were all of us. Snowballs, courtesy Bella and Emmett were nailing each of us.

_Review? :] _


	5. Chapter 5

**Bella's POV**

Emmett is the master at throwing all things snow. We made at least fifty snowballs before we took off and started throwing the snow at our friends. It ended up turning into an all out war.

Edward threw a snowball right in my face and Jasper took advantage of my haze and grabbed my hands from behind. Edward was about to throw another snowball, but was hit by a pile of snow thrown two feet from him by Alice. She simply stuck her tongue out. Rosalie dropped snow on Jasper's head and I wiggled free from him, but was thrown snow on by Emmett.

Edward came to my rescue and threw a snowball at Emmett. I then threw a snowball at Rosalie who thought Emmett threw it and ended up firing away at him. Alice was now on Jasper's back and was dominating everyone while Jasper took all of the shots for her.

I laughed at the scene playing in front of me. Edward grabbed my hand with his cold one and led me behind his car. He began forming snowballs with me, but I had an evil mind and I nudged him with my shoulder and he turned to look at me. We were only about two inches away at this moment, and he leaned in to close the distance, just as I planned.

I threw a snowball in his surprised face and he coughed. "Not fair." He mumbled. I smiled timidly at him, happy he wasn't mad.

I turned back to Edward and we were still only inches apart. I was about to close this distance, but Emmett interrupted by throwing a snowball on our heads. Rosalie snickered.

"Enough, enough!" Alice shouted and Emmett dropped the snowball he had in his hand. "I can't go to the supermarket like this."

We all laughed. All of us were soaked. Our clothes were drenched and our hair was ratty and had snow in it.

"I might have some supplies for you at my house." I offered Alice. She smiled at me.

"I left my history book there," Jasper said. "I'll go to your house, too."

"Anywhere, but in this snowy wonderland!" Alice said. As it was still snowing.

"Aw," Emmett said, "Rosie, will you stay outside with me?"

"And risk getting a cold for the Valentine Princess? No way, Emmett."

"Thirty minutes?"

"Fine." Rosalie said and left with Emmett toward the snows. They waved back at us.

"What about you, Edward?" Alice asked.

"I should get back home for dinner." Edward sighed.

"It's sort of dangerous out." I told him.

"The plows haven't even started doing the streets yet." Jasper said.

"My Volvo can handle it." Edward said.

I rolled my eyes, "It's not the Bat mobile."

"The what?" Alice asked.

"The car Batman drives." Jasper smiled.

"Oh." Alice said. "Whatever, let's get out of the snow!"

We all got into our separate cars and went to my house, excluding Edward. I opened the door with my key and saw that nobody was home. I led Alice and Jasper inside and they made themselves comfortable on the sofa. I went up to my room and grabbed a few different materials that I thought Alice could find useful.

When I got downstairs the news was on and Jasper and Alice were intently watching.

_"It seems like we may be getting twelve or more inches." The newscaster man said and there was a helicopter view of our town. "The police have deemed that no one can drive on the roads after 9 P.M. They're taking it easy and so should you. Now, Wendy, back to you…"_

Jasper turned the television off. "Bella, I'm staying over." He said easily. I shrugged. This wasn't new. We'd done this before.

"You're…what?" Alice asked.

"I can't drive home in that." Jasper said. "And either can you. You're staying here, too."

"No way." Alice said. "I have schoolwork."

"Alice," I said, "We're not going to have school tomorrow. Just stay here. You can call your parents. The roads are really bad and just getting worse."

Alice sighed, "But, you don't even have any of my clothes here and I'm still wet."

"I'm sure I can find something." I told her.

"What about that suitcase? You told me about it the other day." Jasper said.

"Oh!" Alice said. "Yeah, I'll go get that now!"

She hopped out of the room and ran out into the cold for her suitcase.

"She's prepared." I laughed.

Jasper smirked.

Minutes later, Alice hobbled back into the house with Rosalie.

"Guess who is staying over!" Rosalie said.

I laughed. Rosalie lived way up on a hill and it would be stupid to drive up there.

Jasper and Alice were sharing the sofa and doing some homework, while Rosalie and I watched the television. All of us had showered and changed into clean, dry clothes. A loud knock on the door rattled the whole house. Whoever it was didn't wait for us to answer, but walked in. It was just Emmett.

"I thought you were driving home?" Rosalie asked.

"Oh my God!" I said taking in Emmett's appearance. His face was wet and red. He was drenched. "What happened?"

"I got a flat." He said flatly, and then laughed, "I was avoiding a damn squirrel."

Rosalie laughed, "Aw, you big tough guy."

"Hey," I said, "I can put your stuff in the dryer and you can borrow some of my dad's clothes."

"Well, thank you, Bella." Emmett while turning away from Rosalie smirking, "but I brought my gym bag. So I have some sweats."

"Noooooo!" Alice screamed.

"What?" Jasper, Rose, and I said at the same time.

"Alice," Emmett said, "They've been washed."

"That sort of smell never comes out!" Alice said.

I laughed at the seriousness on Alice's face. Rose rolled her eyes and Jasper put a comforting arm around Alice to distract her as Emmett made his way to the bathroom to change.

We had run out of school work and the television was just plain boring. We settled on playing some scrabble. We had it all set up and we were doing teams. I felt a little left out. Rosalie and Emmett were a team and Jasper and Alice were a team. I was the lone person. But, then the doorbell rang. I hopped up and opened it and Edward walked in. He was soaked. Even worse then Emmett was.

"What…what happened?" I asked.

Edward dropped a duffle bag on the floor.

"Edward…" I said.

"My car…" He said miserably. "I skidded into a snow bank."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah." He said.

"Your car?" I asked.

"No damage, just stuck. They're sending someone out there as we speak."

"Come with me." I told him leading him up the stairs, through my bedroom and into my bathroom. Edward stayed at the doorframe as I turned the shower on.

"Bella, what are you do-doing?"

"I'm not letting you get sick!" I told him. "Plus, all of us have already taken showers. Have you been stuck all this time?"

"No. Well, yeah. It's not a big deal. I just wanted to make sure my car was taken care of."

"Take a shower." I said. "There are towels in this closet and your duffle bag is right here, okay?"

"Yes, ma'm." He laughed.

I rolled my eyes and walked out of the bathroom as Edward walked into my bathroom and shut my door.

I walked back down the stairs. I recapped the story to everyone and they all had weird smirks on their faces. I retook my seat and began playing scrabble with everyone. I was winning even one player short, but it was my turn and I had no clue what to do. I'd been stuck with an 'S', 'Q', and a 'T'. Edward bounded down the stairs then and took a seat next to me. He scrunched his eyebrows and turned to Emmett.

"Empty your pockets."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Just watch." He said.

Alice reached over and reached into Emmett's pocket and had a handful of chips, mostly vowels. Rosalie smacked the back of his head, although, I had my suspicions she knew he was cheating.

"Wait." Jasper said. "How'd you know he was cheating?"

"Oh, believe me," Edward said, "this isn't the first time."

"Calm down," Emmett said, "You just need to get-"

"Emmett!" I stopped him.

He looked at me and narrowed his eyes. I threw my letter 'Q' at him. He laughed, "I want some popcorn!"

Emmett dragged Alice out of her position in Jasper's lap and into the adjoining kitchen. He said she was a master of popcorn. When I laughed, I was instantly shut up by the piercing stares of Alice, Emmett, and Edward.

Apparently, she was a popcorn genius.

The phone rang and Emmett grabbed it.

"La casa de Bella." Emmett said in a bad Spanish accent.

I rolled my eyes.

"¡Un minuto. Bella consigue el teléfono!"

"Ugh," Rosalie sighed, "No spanish, Emmett!"

I hopped up and grabbed the phone from Emmett and walked away from everyone and into the laundry room.

"Hey, Dad." I said.

"Bella, who's at my house?"

I sighed, "My friends, they got snowed in."

"That didn't sound like Jasper, though."

"It's not. It's Emmett."

"Who?"

"A friend."

"Bella…"

"Look," I said, "Jasper couldn't get home and either could Alice. Rosalie couldn't either. Emmett got a flat and Edward ran off the road."

"It's nice of you to host them." Charlie said. "But, I'm not going to be home at all tonight."

"Oh."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah," I shrugged.

"I trust you and I love you, Bella."

"Thank you." I told him.

I stepped out of the laundry room and all eyes were on me, they were all silently waiting to get kicked out. I pulled the best trick I could possible play.

I turned sad and said, "I'm so, so sorry."

"Aw, I'll just drive home everyone in Rosie's car." Emmett said.

"No way!" Rosalie said.

"You don't like my driving?"

"No."

"Come on, everyone knows woman drive worse than…"

Alice threw the hot bag of popcorn at Emmett and he yelped and stepped back in surprise.

"I'm not kicking you out." I said, still sadly. "My dad's sending the guy's to Gina's house."

"Who's that?" Edward asked.

Jasper started laughing. "Some old lady who wears green jumpsuits…" His laughter then stopped immediately. "You're sending us _there_?"

"Sorry…"

"It's alright." Edward said.

"Bro," Jasper said, "I'd rather sleep in my car."

"Gotcha!" I said quietly.

"What?" Emmett asked coming closer.

"You can stay." I laughed and Emmett charged at me and pulled me into a bear hug and turned me into circles.

"That was mean." Jasper said.

"I'm rubbing off on her." Rosalie said proudly.

Hours passed with our silly banter. I was surprised that there was never an awkward moment between all of us. No matter what set of people were in the room. When it came time for sleeping arrangements, though, things got messy. I had grabbed every available blanket from the house and then we decided it would only be fair if we all slept on the floor. Alice and Jasper slept close to one another right in front of the television. I was next to Edward on the right of Alice and Jasper. Rosalie and Emmett were to the left of Alice and Jasper. It found it funny how we all ended up paired.


	6. Chapter 6

**_Thanks so much to those who added me to their alerts. It makes me smile. _**

**_----------------------------_**

**Bella's POV**

I woke up to a loud bang. I opened my eyes and sat straight up. I looked toward the direction of the bang, which was towards Rosalie and Emmett. I realized Emmett hit his hand on the coffee table. I laughed to myself when I noticed that he wouldn't even be waking up from it.

Once I was awake, I couldn't get back to sleep. I turned towards the digital clock on the wall. _5:45_ It read. I suppressed a groan while thinking about spending the morning by myself. I carefully got up, trying not to disturb Edward who had been a foot away from me. I then made my way up the stairs and into my bedroom. I grabbed my laptop from my desk and tucked myself into my bed.

I looked at the school website which had posted that there would be no school. I smiled even though I already knew this. I then leaned my head down on my pillow and tried closing my eyes. A moment later I heard breathing. I opened my eyes and saw a very sleepy Edward. He was reaching toward the ceiling in an attempt to stretch.

"Edward?" I asked my voice laced with sleep.

"Ditch us all to your bedroom, Isabella?"

"No." I said. "I just woke up."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I can't lie." I told him. "Especially before six in the morning."

He yawned and sat on the other side of my bed.

"Let's just go back to bed." I yawned and then paused. I didn't mean for it to sound so… eh.

Edward laughed musically, but lay down on my bed on top of the sheets. Two minutes later, even though normally I cannot go back to sleep, I was in the best sleep of my life.

**Edward's POV**

I awoke next to Bella. I smiled at the thought of it, but then grimaced at the reason I had been awoken this time. I could hear the snickering of our friends.

"I bet they slept here all night." Emmett said.

"Ten bucks says they didn't." Jasper said.

"Deal." Emmett said.

"Come on, guys." Alice said. "They're sleeping."

"Obviously," Rosalie said, "if they weren't then Edward wouldn't be that close to Bella."

Emmett laughed and I wanted to give him the finger, but stopped because I felt Bella grab my hand and squeeze it.

"Let's get out." Jasper said. He was easily surpassing Emmett in my favorite guy friends category.

Our friends left, but left the door wide open.

Bella was the first to break the silence between us by sitting up and laughing. She yawned halfway through it and I wanted to tell her to go back to sleep.

"We need new friends." I grumbled, running a hand through my hair.

"You're just figuring this out?" She asked lightly getting out of the covers of her bed.

I shrugged and she smiled at me.

"We should probably go supervise them, though." Bella laughed. "Charlie would kill me if I let Emmett burn the house down."

When Bella and I arrived, our group of friends was sitting around the living room eating frozen waffles. They left a plate for Bella and one for me. All of us were just sitting around eating when we all began to hear the distinct noise of Emmett snoring. He had fallen asleep.

Rosalie wanted to draw vile things on him, but Jasper advised her not to. Bella got down on her knees next to Emmett, who was lying in the middle of the living room on his back, and she gently shook his shoulders. He didn't respond. So, she said, "I'm going out for some snowman making…"

"Wait!" Emmett mumbled.

"What's that?" Bella asked.

"I'm not sure…" Rosalie said.

"Me!" Emmett said louder and then stood up, but was still closing his eyes. "Wait for me!"

Bella laughed and Emmett opened his eyes. He saw Bella and picked her up and led her toward the laundry room to get shoes before they went off on their adventure. He was being completely serious and Bella didn't back off.

A few minutes later we heard the door slam. Rosalie began to shake her head and Alice laughed.

Jasper threw my phone to me. "It's been going off constantly."

"Thanks." I said and walked away. I looked through the missed calls. All were from my parents.

I quickly dialed the house and on the second ring my mother answered.

"Edward?"

"Yeah, Mom?" I asked.

"Oh, Edward, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"The policeman's house was okay? Do you need us to come pick you up?"

"Staying here was fine." I said, although it was much better than fine. "And I don't need a ride home, yet."

"You're positive?"

"Yeah," I said, "Alice and Emmett are also here; one of them will drive me home."

"Alright, sweetheart. If you need us call, okay?"

"Okay."

"Love you." She said.

"Same here." I said shutting my phone and leaving it on the kitchen counter.

**Bella's POV**

"Think fast!" Emmett yelled at me throwing a hat at me. I caught it with ease and placed it on top of our snowman. I smiled at the pathetic snowman. It was pretty big, it came up to my shoulders, but it was a tad lopsided. And since it was still snowing, its head was becoming a little too big for its body.

"What should we name it?" I asked.

"Hmmm." Emmett pondered coming to stand next to me.

"Hmmm, indeed." I said.

"I think," Emmett said, "Fluffy Frosty."

A big wind knocked me off my feet and on to my bottom.

Emmett laughed loudly. "Actually, Fluffy Frosty Buns works."

I frowned at him, but smiled when he plopped down next to me. "I like it!" I proclaimed. "I think this is the best snowman made, ever."

"This is definitely the tallest." Emmett said. "Alice won't allow the snowman to be taller than her."

I laughed, "Yeah and Jasper won't let me take his hat. So, my poor snowman is always cold."

"Then Edward always is too rough with the thing and ends up kicking it to the ground."

"Rosalie spills hot chocolate on it. Then that's bye-bye snowman."

"Hold on." Emmett told me standing up and grabbing a stick. He made a big box around the snowman. "No one, except us, is allowed inside this box.

"He's probably lonely, though."

"Wanna make another snowman?" Emmett asked smiling.

I answered him by gathering more snow.

An hour later we had the snowman and snowwomen next to one another. Emmett told me they needed some alone time and we should go back inside. We entered through the laundry room and into the kitchen. Rosalie was holding a mug of steaming coffee and Emmett, being Emmett, ran up to hug her. She dropped the mug and made a face at Emmett.

"Shit." Rosalie said lamely. "It shattered."

"Sorry." Emmett said to me.

"You should be!" Rosalie said. "What if I spilt on myself?"

"I would gladly help you out of your wet clothes."

"Ugh!" Rosalie said. "You already made me wet with that jacket of yours! It's soaked, Emmett."

Emmett took his jacket off and threw it to Edward who was watching the scene. Edward rolled his eyes, but joined me in the laundry room to hang up the snow gear.

"How's your snowman?" He asked.

"Fluffy Frosty Buns is doing okay. He met a lady snowwoman awhile ago, though, so he should be doing better."

"Fluffy what?" Edward asked wonderfully confused.

I laughed. "Fluffy Frosty Buns."

"Can you say that ten times fast?"

"Fluffy Frosty Buns. Fluffy Frosty Buns. Fluffy Frosty Butts." I paused and heard Emmett laughing at me from the kitchen.

"Nice one, Bella!" Emmett yelled.

I sighed and shut the laundry room door.

"Sorry about that." Edward said not looking the least bit sorry.

I rolled my eyes. "Where's Jasper and Alice?"

"'Doing homework'," Edward laughed putting his hands in quotation marks, "upstairs, and alone."

I was about to make a remark when the telephone rang. Edward and I walked out of the laundry room and headed for the phone. Rosalie and Emmett were occupied cleaning the floor.

"Hello?" I asked into the phone.

"Excuse me, who is this?" Asked a female voice.

"Bella." I said. "Who is this?"

"This is Esme. Edward's mother." She said. "He wouldn't happen to be there, would he?" She asked.

"Um, yeah." I said. "Do you want to –"

"Oh, yes." She answered before I could finish the question. "And thank you so much, Bella."

"Um," I said, "Hold on."

I handed the phone to Edward who rolled his eyes and talked for a moment with his mother. When he hung up he said, "Sorry about that. She tends to be overprotecting."

I smiled sadly, "That's nice."

"You're lucky you live with your father." Edward said. "I bet he doesn't worry half as much as your mother does."

Shit. He didn't know and I didn't want to cry. Thinking about snow had always made me want to cry because she loved it so

much. My mother used to drag me out in it. Now she wasn't here."My dad's really protective." I said miserably, avoiding the mother subject.

"Really?" Edward questioned. "He seemed to be allowing three men to sleepover last night."

"He trusts Jasper." I said. "Plus, it's his policeman mentality to help those in need and you ran off the road and Emmett got a flat. I'm sure he'll be excited to get home and lecture you about taking safety precautions."

Rosalie sprung up by my side. She obviously heard the mother comment and realized I was avoiding it. "We need to talk." She told me and grabbed my wrist and up the stairs. When we got to my bedroom we saw Alice and Jasper sitting on my bed doing homework.

"Leave." Rosalie said.

"Me too?" Alice asked.

"Of course not." Rosalie said. "Just Jasper."

"Why?" Jasper asked.

"I have to talk about girl shit." Rosalie said sarcastically. "Get out."

Jasper raised his hands in a surrender-like gesture and snickered while getting out. I shut and locked the door and sat on my bed next to Alice.

"You didn't have to do that." Alice said. "He would have gotten out."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "For you, yes. Me, not so much."

Alice seemed a little happy about that.

"Whatever." Rosalie said. "Bella, are you okay?"

I sighed. "Yeah."

"Come on, Bella." Rosalie said. "I'm not Jasper, but I can see you're miserable right now."

"What?" Alice asked turning to face me.

"I'm not miserable." I growled. "I'm…"

"Conflicted?" Rosalie asked.

"Yeah." I said.

"Why?" Alice asked. "Was this something Edward did?"

"No." I said as Rosalie answered, "Yes."

We faced each other and scowled.

"Fill me in, please." Alice said.

"It's just…" I said. "It's just that the snow reminds me of my mother and she…"

I looked to Rosalie to finish the story, "She passed away about four years ago."

"The snow reminds me of her." I said.

"Plus," Rosalie said turning to Alice, "Edward said something about how Bella's lucky to live with her father."

"He what?!" Alice sprung up and was about to leave the door, but Rosalie blocked it.

"He doesn't know." I told Alice. Then I faced Rosalie because she tended to be overprotective. "Rosalie, he didn't know. Don't hold a grudge, please."

Rosalie sighed disappointedly. Then Alice gave me a tiny hug. The three of us walked down the stairs and were greeted with the best sight ever.

Emmett, Jasper, and Edward were sitting on the couch getting lectured by my father, still in full uniform (gun included), as they sat there staring at him like he might shoot them. I laughed at the sight. Rosalie smiled broadly, probably hoping for Emmett to freak out. Alice stood shock still for a moment before resuming down the stairs and held her hand out to Charlie to introduce herself.


	7. Chapter 7

_So, timeline wise… this chapter starts out on Thursday. The story started on a Monday. Valentine's Day is on Saturday. :]_

_-------------------  
_

**Bella's POV**

Charlie had gone up the stairs to take a shower and take a nap. The moment he left, everyone began to bail.

"You're just scared Charlie's going to come back downstairs." Rosalie snickered as she handed Emmett his jacket.

"I'm not afraid of anything, woman." Emmett replied.

Rosalie rolled her eyes and put on her own jacket.

"I happen to like your father, Bella." Alice said and smiled. "But, I'm behind in my designs."

"I have to follow to make sure she doesn't get stuck." Jasper chimed in.

"And Emmett's my ride home." Edward replied.

We were all standing in front of the front door. Alice ran into me and knocked me into a squeezing hug.

"Thank you so, so much!" She said. "And not just for letting me stay, but for the design cover you're working on."

"Oh, um…"

When she released me I was got pulled into a bear hug by Emmett.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Rosalie asked laughing. "Chief Swan is upstairs…"

Emmett let me go immediately and I laughed.

"It was no big deal having you guys here." I replied.

"You're the best, Bella." Emmett said before leaving with Rosalie who waved goodbye.

"I'll call you later!" Alice called leaving and dragging Jasper along as he called goodbye to me.

Edward was standing by the door, but didn't make a turn to leave. "Thank you for having us over. Most people wouldn't be so gracious."

I smiled at him, "I loved having you guys over." I said. "I don't remember being this happy in my home in… a long time."

"You're not happy here?"

"I'm not, not happy. I'm… it's hard to explain." I said.

"I can listen if you want."

"I might take you up on that someday." I said.

We heard a loud beep, probably impatient Emmett.

"I guess I should head out." Edward said.

"Alright." I said and opened the door for Edward. I stepped out on the front porch and instantly regretted it.

A large chunk of ice covered the whole step and, being me, I fell. "Damn it." I muttered.

"Bella!" Edward said coming to me, without thinking about it, he fell too.

"Oh no!" I said when Edward was next to me. "Are you alright?"

Edward laughed. "Yeah, are you?"

"As long as you are." I said and realized how corny that sounded. I looked at Edward and I realized how insanely close he was. It was just like yesterday during our snowball fight, except today I wouldn't screw it up and throw a snowball in his face. I would close the distance of his lips to mine. I didn't realize my thoughts were on the same page as Edward's, but knew it the moment I saw him doing the plan I had in my head. He was going to kiss me.

**Edward's POV**

The moment her lips met mine, something happened. She pulled me in closer and the gentleness of the kiss was becoming less and less.

"Edward you're taking forev–" Emmett said coming to a stop before me and Bella. "Oh, come on. If you knew you were going to make-out couldn't you have let me stay inside for a moment?"

He was just joking, but I shot him a look.

"Sorry, Emmett." Bella smiled at him as I took her hand and helped her up.

"Don't be." I told her.

She and Emmett rolled their eyes at me. "I'm going in through the backdoor." Bella admitted after looking at the steps for a few minutes. "Edward, you're sure you're okay?"

It was my turn to roll my eyes, "More then okay, Bella."

"Don't get all sappy on me!" Emmett announced and stalked off to his jeep. I kissed Bella on the forehead before taking off after Emmett.

I got into Emmett's car and before I could even close the door, he took off. The roads were still icy and not fully paved. He was concentrating hard, but still going fast. I didn't complain, though. I would have been doing the same thing.

Emmett dropped me off at my house and for once didn't come in with me. He's probably heading off to see Rosalie. Not that I'm complaining.

I walked in through the front door of the house and was greeted by my mother running up to hug me.

"You're okay?" She asked.

"Yeah." I answered stepping away and headed up the stairs.

"Edward?" She called out.

"Yeah?"

"Do you happen to know what happened to the vase I bought from France? It looks a little bit off."

I stumbled on the stair I was going up, but continued up to my room. "Um, no, I have no clue."

**FRIDAY**

**Bella's POV**

The next morning, I pulled into the parking lot of my school and was surprised to see that my dad's police car was parked at the parking lot. Probably routine stuff or something.

I laughed, though, when I saw Alice talking to him with a ton of enthusiasm for 6:45 in the morning.

"Alice?" I asked walking over to them.

"Bella!" She said and gave me a hug. "Bye, Charlie!" She called as she led me to the school. "I have a question."

"What?" I asked.

She pouted a little bit, "So I heard you have plans for Valentine's Day?"

I thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah. Jasper and I have plans to watch movies."

"Yeah, that's what he said…"  
"Alice, if you want to spend time the holiday with Jasper then don't hesitate to make plans with him. I'm not going to be angry or anything."

"Don't be ridiculous, Bella." Alice said. "That's not what I was implying."

"Then what are you?"

She sighed. "Would you mind if I hung out with you guys, too? I just don't want to spend the holiday alone."

"Alice, you're always welcome over."

"Really?"

"Of course!"

"Thanks, Bella." She said and then stopped right before we walked into the school. Another big poster of Rosalie was hung up. This was one of her with Emmett that must have been taken after the snowball fight. They were soaked, but looked extremely happy and beautiful covered in snow.

"This is getting creepy." I said.

"Ah!" Alice screamed stepping closer to the poster.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Look at this!" She said pointing to two smaller photos. One was of Alice and Jasper and the other was one of me and Edward right before our almost kiss.

"This is…" I began, but was cut off by Alice.

"Oh my God!" Alice sang. "You kissed Edward!"

"I… um… you've kissed Jasper." I said lamely.

"Old news, Bella!" Alice said.

"It wasn't after this." I said pointing at the poster.

"I want details!" Alice said, but stopped when we saw the rest of our little group coming up.

Rosalie and Emmett ran up immediately after they saw the big picture of themselves on it. Jasper patted my shoulder as he walked past me and next to Alice. Edward stood next to me.

"Holy shit!" Emmett said. "You look pretty cozy here, Edward."

"What's he talking about?" Edward asked.

"So do you, Jasper." Rosalie said.

This sparked both of the guys' attention and they rushed over and pushed Emmett and Rosalie out of the way.

"Who took these?" Jasper asked.

We all shrugged. None of us knew.

The day went on slowly. I had one more class until lunch and the teacher allowed us a study hall today. I didn't have any homework so I went to pull out my book _Wuthering Heights. _It wasn't there, though. Frantically, I pulled everything out of my bag and my book was nowhere to be found. This can't be happening! I threw everything back in my bag and asked the teacher if I could go to my locker. When I got into the hallway I ran to my locker and tore everything out of it. It wasn't in there. I was going to cry. But, I didn't have time for that right now.

I saw Jasper walking towards me. He had study hall this period. "What's wrong?" He asked me.

"I can't find my book!" I said. Jasper's eyes grew wide. He knew what book I was talking about.

"We'll find it, Bella." He said.

"It's not in my bag or my locker." I said. "I haven't taken it out since… I don't even remember, Jasper. I can't believe what I've done!"

"Calm down." Jasper reasoned. "I'll go check the lost and found, alright?"

I nodded my head and saw Jasper run off. I was happy I had a friend who cared this much about me… and runs track.

I was still frantically checking all of my folders when a hand grasped my shoulder. I shrieked in shock and turned to see an amused Edward standing behind me.

"What are you looking for?" He asked leaning against the lockers as I continued to search.

"A book." I mumbled.

"You take the same classes as me." He said. "You could borrow one of my books for a class…"

"No." I said. "Different book. But, thanks."

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yes. No. I don't know." I said flustered.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I lost a book. My mom gave it to me for my birthday years ago and she wrote this message in it and I lost it, Edward. I…"

"I'm sure she'll understand." He said.

I groaned. I really should tell him about my mom passing away, but didn't. "I'm sure she would, but I want it back. It means everything to me."

"Okay." He said. He probably thought I was insane. I was still tearing through my locker. "I can go check the lost and found."

"Jasper just went there."

"Want me to ask the office?" Edward asked.

"Yes. Yes, please." I said.

"I'll be back…"

**Edward's POV**

Bella was acting strange. And that was putting it lightly. I had study hall this period. I decided I needed to stretch my legs and when I passed Bella I was surprised. She had all of the contents of her locker scattered about the floor and she was going through each of her notebooks.

I was now walking to the main office for her, but I realized I didn't even know what book she was missing. I was almost to the office when I saw Jasper. He came up to me.

"Bella's book is missing." He informed me looking stressed.

"She told me…" I said.

"Have you seen it?"

"I don't even know what book it is." I answered. "She told me her mom wrote her a message in it?"

"Yeah." Jasper said. "We got to find that book."

"Why?" I asked. "Her mom would understand if she can't. It's just a book."

"I really hope you didn't say that to Bella." Jasper said.

"Why wouldn't her mother understand?" I asked. "Didn't she send Bella to live here a few years back? I don't get it. Her mom sounds like a jerk to me."

"I could punch you right now." Jasper said.

I took a step back. Fighting with Jasper wouldn't end well.

"You and Bella are acting insane." I said.

"You're being a jack ass." Jasper said. "You just insulted Bella's deceased mother and you think that we…"

"Wait." I said. "Her mother isn't… alive?"

"…" Jasper paused. "She didn't tell you?"

"No. Fuck."

Jasper sighed heavily. "Sorry. Didn't mean to go crazy on you."

"I… I didn't know." I said.

"Bella's fault." Jasper said. "I probably shouldn't have told you."

"You didn't know I didn't know." I said. "So… this book… her mother wrote a message in it?"

"Yes, it was the last gift Bella got from Renee."

"And what's this book called?" I asked.

"_Wuthering Heights._" Jasper said.

I could have punched myself. And I hoped Jasper and Emmett would when I tell them. I couldn't believe myself. I was such an idiot. I was the cause of Bella's heart break at this moment. _I was the one with Bella's book from the time Emmett bumped into her on Monday. _


	8. Chapter 8

_Hey! This chapter is pretty short. But, I plan on having another chapter up later. Plus, the end is in sight!_

**Bella's POV**

The bell rang and students came running out of their classes. My books were all over the hallway getting kicked around and shoeprints on them, but I didn't care. I stood at my locker and waited for the late bell to ring so that all of the students would get out of the hallway.

Rosalie was next to me in about two minutes. Emmett was right behind her. "We're going to find that book." Rosalie stated already knowing the situation. "Jasper texted me the moment he found out it was missing. Alice was next to me and I sent her looking in dumpsters…"

"Dumpsters?" I dead-panned and cringed at the thought of my book going into the trash.

"We'll find it." Rosalie reassured me.

I nodded once and looked at the floor. I saw feet shuffling in the hallway and I noticed it was Emmett picking up my books for me. When he was finished gathering them up he threw them in my locker.

"What if we don't find it?" I asked.

"That's not an option." Rosalie said firmly.

"There are six of us." Emmett said. "And one golden book, this will be cheesecake easy."

I smiled at Emmett's attempt at a joke.

"Come on." Rosalie said. "Let's help Alice out."

I walked to the back doors of the school where a few garbage bins were. They were all huge, green, and slimy. I saw little Alice peeking into one of them using her phone as a flashlight.

Emmett went to the next one and Rosalie began looking around the trash bins. I began to look in the last trash bin. We worked for a few moments until we heard pounding coming around the corner. We all looked up and saw Jasper and Edward running towards us. Jasper stood back a few steps, though.

"Did you find it?" Alice asked hopefully.

Edward stepped closer to me. "Bella," he said closing his eyes, "I know where your book is."

I could have kissed him. I probably would have if our friends weren't standing right there. I ran to him and hugged him.

"I can't believe you found it!" I said and realized tears were silently coming down my face.

We were still embraced when Edward said, "Do you remember on Monday when you ran into Emmett?"

I took a step back to look at Edward. "Yeah…"

"Well," Edward took a deep breath. "I noticed you left a book behind and I didn't realize its significance. It's at my house, Bella."

I didn't know how to react for a moment. One moment he was the guy that I would have easily kissed and the next I wanted to push him.

I stomped on his foot and stormed off.

I thought that maybe my friends would follow, but I saw Jasper put his arm up when they tried. He knew I just needed to be alone. I couldn't stand the thought of being with anyone right now.

I left school through the front door. Nobody stopped me. I ran to my truck and I turned the car in the ignition and it wouldn't work. I hit my hand on the steering wheel and then the car roared to life.

Where was I to go now? It was basically the middle of the day. No one would be home for another hour or two. I couldn't go to my house after that. I'd go to Jake's and wait for him there.

An hour late Jake came into his garage like I knew he would. When he realized I was here he smiled, but frowned when he saw my expression. He'd come to know _this_ expression perfectly.

"Bella…" He began.

I took a deep breath and spoke in a small voice, "I'm sorry for coming here. I just… I have nowhere else to go."

"Don't be sorry, Bells." He said coming to sit on the hood of his car as I sat on the tires.

"I don't mean to keep coming here and burdening you more than I already have, but…"

Jake put a hand up to stop me, "I love you, Bella. Not like that, but as a sister. You're not inconveniencing me in anyway and you're no burden."

"Jake," I said, "that's extraordinarily nice of you."

Jake smiled sadly at me. "What's bugging you?"

I took a deep breath. "I lost my book. Or I thought I had."

"_Wuthering Heights_?"

"Yes." I said and he nodded. I recapped the story of trying to find it and realizing that it was gone up until Edward told me he had it.

"He doesn't know about Renee?" Jake asked finally.

"No. Well, he does now."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"No. It's just not something I wanted to deal with."

"It's part of who you are, Bella." Jake said. "Just like how my mom got into a car accident is part of me. Whenever I go driving with Leah I drive her crazy making sure she's secured."

"I can't protect anyone from cancer, Jake." I said.

"I can't protect anyone from a drunk driver, Bella. But, that wasn't my point. I mean, that you're always going to cherish the snow and that book because it's what brings you back to your mom."

I nodded my head.

"And this Edward guy," Jake said, "he didn't know this. He'll give you back your book."

"I know that." I said. "It was still scary thinking I lost that book."

"You didn't lose it, though." Jake smiled at me.

I smiled back and felt a little bit better.

Awhile later Jake was working on his car and I was just sitting there. "Hey, Jake?"

"Yeah."

"Who was that Leah girl you mentioned?"

"Oh, uh, well, she's sort of this girl…"

"Uh huh." I smiled.

"I've been seeing her for a month… or three."

"Jake!"

"Uh…"

"You didn't tell me!" I laughed. "You little jerk."

He laughed with me.

"So, is that who you're spending Valentine's Day with?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah." Jake said. "Oh, yeah, tell Blondie that I'll take her shift on Valentine's Day."

"Are you sure, Jake? I'm sure Rosalie could handle…"

"I was just doing it to annoy her." Jake laughed.

**Edward's POV**

The last bell rang for the day and I wanted to sprint to my car, get to my house, and give Bella back her book. I couldn't, though. I had no idea where she ran off to. I quickly walked off to my car anyway. I drove straight to my house and ran up to my bedroom to grab Bella's book off of my dresser. I picked it up and looked at the book. It was falling apart a little bit. I knew Bella mentioned her mother writing a note in it, but I didn't want to intrude.

But, who was I kidding? I'd already kicked myself into her life and… God, I'm such a horrible person. I can't invade this privacy. I needed to talk to Bella. I called Rosalie to find out where Bella was, but Rosalie wouldn't pick up the phone.

The thing with all of our friends was that they weren't mad or angry with me or the situation, but sad. They knew I had no clue that the book meant so much to Bella, but they still felt like I should have known. And why was I keeping the book? I didn't even know.

My doorbell rang and I deserved a golden star for my sprinting. It was just Emmett, though. When had he ever rung the doorbell? I stepped aside and let him in. He walked straight to the living room and we played video games for hours. It took my mind off of everything and he knew it would. Jasper came in next and the three of us played for hours.

**Bella's POV**

I went back to my house at ten at night and shouldn't have been as shocked as I was, but I was shocked when I saw Rosalie and Jasper sitting at my kitchen table.

"Hey." I said to them and sat down. Rose and Jasper were on one side and me on the other.

"You're okay now?" Jasper asked.

I nodded.

"No more taking off like that." Rosalie said.

I shrugged.

"How's Jake?" Rosalie asked slyly knowing where I'd gone.

"He's okay." I said. "How's everyone?" I asked only wondering about Edward and the way I stomped on his foot.

"Ask Jasper, he was just with Edward." Rosalie said.

"He seemed sorry." Jasper said.

"I know."

"He didn't know about the whole picture..." Jasper said.

"He still took her book…" Rosalie said.

"Rose…" I said. "Please.

She sighed.

"Are you still going to the dance?" I asked Rosalie getting the topic off of myself.

"Only if you don't need me." She said.

I rolled my eyes. "Jake said he'd take your shift."

"What?" Rosalie asked. "I'll be right back! I need to call Alice and tell her to change all of my appointments."

Rosalie walked out and Jasper stared at me for a moment.

"Will you be okay staying here tonight?" He asked. He knew it was hard for me to live here sometimes.

I nodded. "I have to just deal with all of this. It's not going to go away."

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_Eh. I'm going to update later tonight or tomorrow morning._


	9. Chapter 9

_Wow! I'm so flattered by all of the people who have put me on their alerts. Thanks! _

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**Saturday. **

**Valentine's Day. **

**Edward's POV**

At approximately three in the afternoon Alice came over unannounced and made me go to Rosalie's house with her. I was supposed to help her get Rosalie and Emmett ready for some Valentine's Day Dance.

Every two minutes or so Alice would snap a photo and send a message. I assumed it was to Bella, although I had no clue where she was tonight.

Emmett, Alice, and I were in Rosalie's bedroom. Rosalie was in her mother's bathroom right now.

"Nooooo!" Emmett yelled.

"Emmett," Alice said, "this will help deep clean…"

"I'm not a chick. Put that shit on Edward." Emmett said.

"Hey!" I yelled.

"You're doing it." Alice said and Emmett stood on a chair to make himself tower over Alice even more.

Rosalie walked in the room in all of her glory and scowled at Emmett, "Don't break my chair."

"Don't worry, Princess. I won't." Emmett replied.

Alice put the face cream on Rosalie's desk and then whisked Rosalie into the other room to get her completely ready.

Emmett walked over to the tube Alice was holding and opened it and squeezed some in his hands. "Ew!"

I laughed.

"But, it does smell good." Emmett said and began putting some of it on his face.

"You can't be serious." I said.

"Gotta please the lady." Emmett replied.

I shook my head and did something pretty sadistic. I took out my phone and snapped a photo of Emmett in his green mask. I sent the photo to Alice because I knew she had her phone on her. Two seconds later both Rosalie and Alice were in the room. Rosalie laughed while Alice talked about the positive effects it had.

Once Rosalie and Emmett left for their dance Alice and I got back into her car. She began driving me home but said, "I'm going to Jasper's."

"Okay…"

"You should come."

"It's Valentine's Day, Alice."

"It's not a romantic date. It's just a movie marathon and…"

"…and Bella will be there, right?" I guessed.

"Yeah she will."

"Not going."

"She probably wants her book."

That stung.

"She isn't mad at you." Alice said. "She's mad at herself for losing the book."

"It doesn't help that I stole it."

"Ugh. You and Bella need to stop on this self-hate. It's killing me."

"You talked to Bella?"

"A little bit."

"Whatever." I said and got out of the car when Alice dropped me off.

When I got home there was a note from my parents telling me they'd be out all night. They acted like they were 16 sometimes. I was home alone playing video games, but it wasn't fun by myself. I got into my car and began to drive around. I decided to go to Jasper's for a little while. If she didn't want me there then I'd leave."

Alice answered the door and smiled at me and led me to the basement of Jasper's house.

Bella was sitting on one of the three loveseats by herself. She was curled in a blanket and looked like she'd been sitting there all day, which she probably had been.

"Edward?" Jasper asked. He was in the other seat and Alice sat next to him.

"Hey." I said and sat in the empty seat. I could see Bella tense up from across the room.

"I need a bathroom break." Alice said.

"I'm gonna make some popcorn." Jasper said.

They both left, trying to be discreet about leaving Bella and I alone, but failing miserably.

Bella turned the television off and then sat back down in her seat with her legs tucked underneath herself.

"I want to be honest with you." She said looking me in the eyes trying to be confident.

"Go ahead."

She took a deep breath. "I moved here the summer going into high school. At the time my mother didn't tell me why. I was beyond angry. She was making me leave not only my friends, but her as well…" She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened her eyes I realized she had been crying. "… My mom had cancer. She was in her final months and she didn't want me to know… How she kept that a secret, I'll never know, but it killed me, Edward. I wasn't there for her final months. It still kills me. I can barely stay in my dad's house. It reminds me of my mom which is ridiculous because my parents got divorced when I was three…"

"Bella, I'm sorry…" I said.

"No. Please." She said. "I don't want pity. I didn't want to tell you because, well, it's hard to talk about, still. And I didn't want you to think I was some messed up person. You told me about your family and it seems so perfect, especially compared to mine. I'm sorry for not being honest with you in the first place."

"Don't be sorry, Bella." I said finally.

"But, I am."

"I'm sorry for keeping your book."

"Oh no, don't be. How were you supposed to know? It just looks like some ratty old book."

"I didn't want you to think you lost it."

"Even if I did, it wouldn't matter."

"What?"

"I've been thinking about it a lot and, well, I love my mom. I always will. I have the snow and the smell of coffee to remind me of her. I'll never forget anything about her."

"The book has her writing in it, though." I argued.

"I know." Bella said. "And it's the last message I'll ever get from my mom. But, I didn't know her in that stage of her life. I knew her as scatter-brained and loving, but never as so… final. Her message is wonderful and amazing, but I keep remembering her through that note and it's not fair. She wasn't like that."

I walked over to the couch where Bella was and I put my arm around her. She wasn't crying, but she looked defeated. I wanted to hug her, but was hesitant.

She gave me a half hug before dropping her arm. "Thank you." She said.

"For what?" I asked.

"Not pitying me." She answered. "I thought you would."

"Never." I answered and kissed her on the forehead.

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_Awe. I love Edward. I wish he could comfort me! Um, short chapter again. Sorry. I wanted another chapter up by tonight, though. Oh and if you're reading this then leave a review… I like to know what you think. :] _


	10. Chapter 10

"_Magic drifted through the air  
Touching everybody there  
You came into my life so small  
Altering, everything changed"_

_---Everything Changed, Aqualung _

**Bella's POV**

Ten o'clock at night rolled around fast with Alice, Jasper, and the one who I was currently snuggled against – Edward. He wouldn't leave my side, even after Jasper and Alice came back down the stairs. He probably thought that I might freak out… or maybe, just maybe, he cared and didn't want to let go. I could hope it was the latter.

_The Lord of the Rings_ was getting too serious for Alice after so many hours, so we decided to watch corny Valentine's Day movies. Currently, we were on our second cheesy movie – _How to Lose A Guy in Ten Days._ It was cute, but extremely fun to make fun of.

"The royals of Valentine's Day are here!" Emmett said coming down the stairs. All of us turned to Rose and Emmett. They were still dressed up. Rosalie was in a fire-engine red dress that made her look even more gorgeous. Emmett was in a suit and had on a tie that matched Rose's dress.

The funny thing, though, was that they were both wearing goofy crowns on the top of their heads.

"Why are you wearing a crown, Emmett?" Edward asked.

"Apparently his name was on the ballet too." Rosalie laughed and sat with Emmett on the last couch.

"Every princess needs a prince." Emmett smiled.

"Shut up, Prince Charming." Rose said.

"No way, Sleeping Beauty." Emmett said.

"I'm not Sleeping Beauty that title goes to Bella." Rose laughed.

"What?" I asked.

"You just are." Rose sighed.

"So who would I be?" Alice asked bouncing up and down.

"Snow White." I said.

"Then who's Jasper?" Alice asked.

"They never gave the prince a name." I laughed. "So, I guess Jasper could just be one of the dwarfs."

"Very funny, Sleepy." Jasper mumbled.

"Rose would be Rapunzel." Alice chimed in.

Edward laughed and said, "That would make Emmett what?"

"Prince Bastion. Duh." Alice said.

"So if Bella is Sleeping Beauty, then what's Edward?" Emmett asked.

"_Prince_ Phillip." I said.

"How do you know this?" Edward asked.

I shrugged.

"Cause she's Sleeping Beauty and she would know your name, Edward." Alice said sarcastically.

"What'd you guys win?" Jasper asked later that night.

"Oh! Oh! Rosie let me tell them." Emmett said.

"Well," Rose pretended to think about it, "I guess."

"Yes!" Emmett said. "Hold on I left it upstairs."

Emmett bounded up the stairs and back down in about ten seconds. He was now holding a large basket. It was filled with roses and candies. It also had a scrapbook and a few coupons for restaurants.

"What's so exciting?" Jasper asked after looking at the flowers.

"This." Emmett said holding up the scrap book.

"Why?" Edward asked.

"Because… look." Emmett opened up the book and it was already filled with numerous photos of… all of us.

"Who did this?" I asked.

"Eric Yorkie." Rose said.

"Why?" Alice asked.

"He was in charge of creating a scrap book for me in case I won… he may have taken his job a little too seriously. He seemed to have stalked us all a little bit."

All of the photos depicted us all and our relationship with one another perfectly. There was a photo of us all eating lunch together, Alice had her hands raised in a story and Emmett was laughing while Rose was rolling her eyes, Jasper had a hand on Alice's shoulder to calm her down and Edward and I were looking on laughing. This album was filled with photos.

"Wait." I said. "What are you guys doing back so soon? Doesn't the dance end around 11 or 12?"

"We're too cool for that shit." Emmett said.

"Hey," Jasper said, "let's go to our diner."

"After I get out of this dress." Rosalie said. "I've got my bag in Emmett's car."

All of us piled out of Jasper's house. Edward tugged my hand and led me to his car. I got in slowly, but he stopped me.

"Here." He said handing me back his book.

I took the book from him and then surprised him by kissing him. The cold air of February was replaced by the warmth of his mouth. I realized then how much I cared about Edward, loved even. I'd never had a kiss with someone who I cared so much for. When we parted I ducked my head and said, "Wow."

Edward laughed at me and pulled me back to him.

"Finally!"

"Yes!"

"You owe me ten bucks, Emmett!"

"Yippee!"

"This is wonderful!"

"Damn it. Couldn't you have waited three more days?"

And that wasn't embarrassing enough because they all started applauding. I was mortified. I began to take a step away from Edward, but he grabbed my side and let me lean my face into his chest to hide my reddening face.

"Shut up everyone." Edward said. "Let's get to our diner."

"Fine, but you're paying for my food 'cause I'm out ten bucks…" Emmett began, but Rose hit the back of his head.

I was about to hop into Edward's car, when he laughed and leaned down to grab my book that I dropped in the snow during the kiss. "Let's put this in your car." He suggested.

I walked to my truck with Edward and took the book from his hands and placed it gingerly inside. I would leave it in my house from now on.

"Come on lovebirds!" Emmett called. "We're all taking the jeep!"

I laughed and said, "Hold on."

I grabbed my sketchbook from my car. I had finished the cover for Alice and I needed to show it to her… and everyone else.

The ride in the jeep was filled with crude remarks from Emmett, Rose would punch him every once in awhile, Alice would look from me to Edward and smile, Jasper leaned his head against the window, Edward grasped my hand and looked at my sketchbook curiously, and I just smiled.

We were all seated at our circular table in the corner with coffees and hot chocolates and more whipped cream than ever. We all had different platters of food that were all being shared and we were all laughing and having fun.

Now or never.

"Guys," I said to them and they faced me, "I… um… have something to show you."

I took out my sketchbook and Alice, who was sitting next to me, grabbed it before I could even flip to the correct page. When she found it she stared for a few moments with a full on smile.

"I wanna see!" Emmett complained.

"Me too." Edward said.

"Tilt it so I can see." Jasper said. He was sitting next to Alice and she was holding it so only she could see.

"Share, Mary Alice." Rose commanded.

"That doesn't work on me like it does Emmett." Alice laughed still studying the drawing. "Bella, this is perfect!"

Edward reached over me and grabbed the book from Alice and she shrieked.

"This is…" He said.

"Unbelievable." Rose finished for him. She was sitting on his other side and Edward actually shared.

"Well, let me see!" Emmett said.

"And me." Jasper said.

Rosalie handed the sketchbook to Emmett and allowed Jasper and Emmett to look.

"Sleeping Beauty this is great!" Emmett said. "It shows all my manly muscle."

The drawing was something that I finished last night. It didn't follow the original outline of what it was supposed to be, but then again, nothing ever really follows any sort of outline.

The original was only supposed to have me in casual clothes, Jasper in a classical outfit, and Rose in elegant clothing. I expanded the photo to include Edward next to me in causal clothes, Alice next to Jasper looking classy, and then huge Emmett next to Rosalie wearing a tux that was similar to what he wore earlier. It was our little group together just being who we were and having fun while doing just that.

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_Andddd it's over :[_

_But, hey, it is a Valentine's Day story and today is Valentine's Day, so…._

_I hope all of you are having a fun Valentine's Day with someone special or with some friends watching crappy romance movies. I enjoyed writing this and look for stuff that I'll do in the future. Oh and thanks! _


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